by Theresa | Sep 4, 2022 | Strega and Italian-Americana
Numen/numina: Vaguely referred to as the life force in plants in many texts on Italian witchcraft. Maddeningly little information available on it. After all these years, I decided it was time to tackle this one to the ground. From dictionary.com :...
by Theresa | Aug 21, 2022 | More on My Books, Recent Posts, Strega and Italian-Americana
“A boundary-mark (terminus) was no trifling matter to Roman farmers, whose whole wealth consisted in the produce of their land”(Rose 15). Whoever plowed a boundary mark was in danger. In ancient, pre-Roman belief we find the god “Terminus.” Terminus is both the god...
by Theresa | Jun 19, 2022 | Strega and Italian-Americana
The Italian Tradition of San Giovanni Battista(St. John’s Eve and St. John’s Day): June 23 – June 24 “24 June the feast of San Giovanni Battista took over many of the pagan rites connected to the summer solstice. In Introdacqua people walk up to Mount Playa to...
by Theresa | Mar 13, 2022 | Goddess, Strega and Italian-Americana
A traditional celebration and acknowledgment of the spring equinox: the arrival of spring, more light and warmer weather in the northern hemisphere. We will celebrate the Italian Goddess Prosperina and her mother Ceres, who some may know as Greek Persephone and...
by Theresa | Jan 23, 2022 | Strega and Italian-Americana
I was not born in the Abruzzo. I was born in Keene, NH, the daughter of a second generation Italian American. I am not Italian but half of my ancestors are all from the same village in the Abruzzo: Torre de’ Passeri. My journey back to the roots of my Italian lineage...